The sector knows that in order to deliver strong local government across New Zealand, we need to raise our standards of governance and performance. While there are many strong performers we need to lift the bar higher.

LGNZ and EquiP provide best practice guidance, business solutions, governance and management support to strengthen the sector.

Standing orders

Changes have been made to LGNZ’s three sets of Standing Orders, for territorial authorities, regional councils and community boards, to reflect legislative changes made since the first version was drafted in 2016. Changes include amendments made as a result of the Regulatory Systems Act 2018, improvements to the draft resolution for going into public excluded and other changes to improve readability.

The Standing Orders Guide has also been updated and includes a section to assist officials prepare a report to make decisions on the options, such as whether to have a casting vote or not, and to prepare the accompanying report. Also in the following suite of Standing Orders are the 2016 territorial standing orders with the changes tracked.

Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct template has been updated for the 2019 – 2022 triennium. The changes, based on feedback received since the 2016 version was published, include:

An amendment to the complaints process, whereby the Chief Executive will forward, in the first instance, complaints to the Mayor/Chair (except where they may be party to the complaint) in order to make it easier to address trivial and frivolous complaints;

The addition of a section on social media and a streamlining of the media and social media section.

Two templates have been prepared, one for territorial authorities and regional councils and the other for community boards. The Code of Conduct Guide has also been updated.

Guide for Mayors

The 2019 Guide for Mayors has been prepared to assist new and returning Mayors get up to speed with their responsibilities as early as possible. It touches on many aspects of the Mayors’ role from getting to know your councillors, building relationship with your Chief Executive to good practice advice in establishing committees.

Guide for Chairs

The LGNZ 2019 Regional Chair’s Guide has been prepared to assist new and returning regional council chairs understand the requirements of their office and get up to speed as quickly as possible. Topics range from the extremely practical , like finding the right ACC code to suggestions on building effective relationships.

The Good Governance Guide for Community Boards

The Good Governance Guide for Community Boards developed with the assistance of the Community Board Executive Committee (CBEC) ahead of the 2016 elections has now been updated. Changes incorporate suggestions from community boards and officials supporting boards, and includes information from recent research into community board functions and the relationships between boards and councils.

Guide for designing decision-making structures

The structures councils put in place for making decisions can either assist councils achieve their objectives in an open and timely manner or do the opposite, yet little guidance is available for what structures work best for the different circumstances facing councils. This guide to Decision-making structures is still a working draft but has been made available to assist councils currently considering which decision-making structures might work best for their circumstances.

We would also appreciate any feedback on the draft that councils might want to provide, these will be considered as we work to finalise it in the new year.